276 
VERTEBR ATA 
pean bird of that name — is eleven inches long; brown and reddish above ; beneath white ; feeds 
on worms, leeches, and aquatic insects ; migrates northward in March and April, and returns in 
July and August ; breeds from Virginia to 55° north. It has the same habit as the English Snipe, 
— which somewhat resembles the practice we have described as belonging to the jSTight-Hawk — of 
making wide and loftj sweeps in the air, and then swiftly descending with a wailing, hovering sound, 
often heard in the gray of the morning and evening, and when the birds are invisible, and there- 
fore seeming to come from spirits of the sky. It is almost nocturnal in its habits, and conceals 
itself with assiduity in the rank grass and herbage of the marshes which it frequents. Like many 
other birds of this family, it may be decoyed, while in flight, by an imitation of its call. Some 
of them remain among us until the frost hardens tlie earth and compels them to depart. Another 
species, the Macroramjyhus scolopaceics^ is found throughout the temperate parts of North 
America. Sabine's Snipe, S. Sabini, is a rare European species, little known. 
fUHlii 01/iii.Evv saSdpipkks. 
TRINGINiB OR SANDPIPERS. 
This family consists of small birds resembling the snipes, but having longer legs. They live in 
the neighborhood of water, and some of them swim with facility. They are migratory, breeding 
high in the North, and proceeding usually in flocks to the South in autumn. They run and fly 
rapidly, feed on worms, insects, and moUusca, which they extract from the soft, oozy soil of 
marshes. There are many species in Europe and America. 
Genus TRINGA : Tringa. — The Curlew Sandpiper, T. suharquata, is about eight inches 
lonsi: ; chestnut and black above : breast and bellv reddish-chestnut. It breeds in Northern En- 
rope and Asia, as well as in North x\racrica ; in winter it is found in Africa, from Barbary to the 
Cape, and in the United States, along the Atlantic coast to Florida. It is, however, always a rare 
species. The Gray-Back of the United States, called Knot in England, T. camcia, is ten inches 
iona", variecfated above with black and brown, and beneath reddish-chestrrat ; abundant in Western 
Europe and Eastern North America. The Buff-breasted Sandpiper, T. rufescms — Tryngites 
riifescens of Baird — eight inches long; grayish-yellow above; beneath yellowish-red, spotted; 
"found in Europe and North America. The Broad-billed Sandpiper, T.platyrkyncha, six and a 
half inches long ; above varied with black, rufous, and gray ; beneath grayish-white, tinged with 
"buflish-red ; rare, but distributed throughout Europe. The Little Stint, T. minuta, is six 
inches long ; gray above ; under surface white, with a dusky band across the neck ; found 
